Monthly Archives: August 2024

when you got to go, you got to go

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

During a recent visit to New York City, I became hyper aware of the disappearance of public restrooms. There’s no polite way to put this: going to the bathroom in New York is a big hassle. Public restrooms in the … Continue reading →

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Summer Reads

Posted on August 20, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

It has become an annual tradition each summer for former President Barack Obama to share his summer reading list on social media. As usual, the list showcases his mix of fiction and nonfiction, and it shows off an interest in … Continue reading →

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Through Thick and Thin

Posted on August 19, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t think that I’ve read Chaucer since high school, but I was still fascinated when I ran across an article on the many commonly used English phrases that he  coined (or popularized) a lot of phrases that we still … Continue reading →

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Respect the law of consequences

Posted on August 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Those of you who stop by TBTP on a regular basis know that I am an evangelist for the work of Octavia E. Butler . The first widely read Black science fiction author and Afro-Futurist pioneer was also a perspicacious … Continue reading →

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The Mark on the Wall

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

  “The Mark On The Wall” is based on Virginia Woolf’s short story of the same name, which opens with the mysterious line—”Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present year that I first looked up and saw the mark … Continue reading →

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On The Beach

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was surprised to stumble on the complete version of the Stanley Kramer film On The Beach posted on YouTube. The 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama had an enormous impact on me when I first saw the movie on television when … Continue reading →

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Penguins

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Any self-respecting book cover geek needs to take a gander at this website dedicated to the cover art of Penguin paperbacks, curated by Australian design instructor  Greg Neville . “Penguin Books has had numerous categories in its long history: fiction, … Continue reading →

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Definitely Not Hoarding

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Walk This Way

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The ancient Roman Appian Way road network has become Italy’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site. The  Via Appia Antica, or Appian Way,  the oldest and most significant road built by the ancient Romans, has been named a Unesco world heritage … Continue reading →

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Literary London

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

As a great international capital, once at the hub of an enormous colonial Empire, London has long attracted visits by writers, artists and intellectuals from around the world. University College London is curating how London has been seen through the … Continue reading →

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